Nun, 83, and two other activists guilty of intent to injure national security at nuclear complex

Wednesday, 08 May 2013 22:45

An 83-year-old Catholic nun and two of her fellow peace activists were found guilty Wednesday of intending to injure the national defense for intruding last July onto the Y-12 National Security Complex, a nuclear weapons production facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

After hearing two days of testimony and arguments, and then deliberating for nearly 2½ hours, the jury also found the defendants guilty of damaging more than $1,000 of government property at the Y-12 site, where they cut through four chain-link fences and spray-painted biblical messages on a building that warehouses an estimated 400 tons of highly enriched uranium, the radioactive material used to fuel a nuclear bomb.

During the trial about 100 spectators filled two courtrooms to support Sister Megan Rice and 64-year-old Vietnam veteran Michael Walli, both of whom live in the District, and Greg Boertje-Obed, 57, a house painter who lives in Duluth, Minn.

As the jury of nine men and three women left the courtroom, supporters sang softly: “Love, love, love, love. People, we are made for love.”

TVNL Comment: This is a national disgrace, and an outrageous violation of the First Amendment. These three activists are heroes working for peace. Nothing less.